g factor

 
 
 

 

 
Test for 'G'.
 

 

IQ is a 'psychometric' test, meaning it measures mental ability. There are many schools of thought which define intelligence. One of them believes in an inherited, genetically determined intellect that can be measured.

The idea of a single entity 'intelligence' is adopted by the concept of 'General Intelligence', or 'g'. Devised by English Psychologist, Charles Spearman, in the early 20th Century 'g' was a statistical measure of performance across a variety of tests. Spearman found that the same people who did well in a variety of mental tests tended to use a part in their brains that he termed 'g'. This 'g' laid the foundation for the notion of a single intelligence, which enables us to undertake everyday mental tasks.

Although all test scores are generally known as intelligence quotients, or IQ's the various tests can be constructed quite differently. The Stanford-Binet is heavily weighted with items testing verbal activities, while the Wechler scales consist of two separate verbal and performace sub scales, each with its own IQ. The Cattell also has separate tests: of verbal and spatial abilities, with separate IQ ratings. 


This IQ test measures three different types of mental ability verbal, mathematical and spatial and it is designed to measure General Intelligence or 'g'.

Verbal

It is said that to have a mastery of words is to have in one's possession the ability to produce order out of chaos  and that command of vocabulary is a true measure of intelligence. 

Mathematics

We all require some numerical skills in our lives, whether it is to calculate our weekly shopping bill or to budget how to use our monthly income. Flexibility of thought and lateral thinking processes are a few skills which are needed in order to solve these problems. You must quickly allow your mind to run through all the possible reasons and explore as many different avenues that you can think of.

Spatial

Because word tests to a great extent rely on word knowledge, critics argue that results of such tests show an unfair cultural bias. Because of this there is today a swing towards diagrammatic tests where logic is more important than word logic. Such tests are capable of testing raw intelligence without the influence of prior knowledge and include a large proportion of spatial questions. The definition of 'spatial' is 'pertaining to space' and 'spatial abilities' means the perceptual and cognitive abilities that enable a person to deal with spatial relations, in other words the visualization and orientation of objects in space. At a first glance, such tests may appear daunting but the trick is not to give up too quickly. Often a second look at the problem will reveal a different approach, and a solution will appear because the brain has been given the opportunity to process further information.

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